Archive for June, 2013

Earlier today I was watching the old Jimmy Stewart flick, “Strategic Air Command.” In one scene he’s flying the then new B-47 and eating from a white cardboard box. That’s right, a Box Nasty. That movie is from 1955 and that box hasn’t changed, except for some graphics added to the lid as seen here on this fine example from al Udeid AB, Qatar. Let’s face it, it’s the meal we love to hate.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter that the wrapping is the same, because the contents, no matter where they come from, almost always lead to digestive issues. Doing a little research, (Here’s a free tip. Do NOT google ‘box nasty’ as an image search. Trust me on this one.) I found the coolest website about arcane subjects ever; the Box Nasty Hall of Shame. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated since 2009 but there are some awesome examples in this virtual museum.

A friend of mine named Dave, who happens to be a Retired Navy SEAL, sent this photo to me of an old magazine he had lying around the house. It was his as a kid and he told me that he remembers reading about the exploits of the Viet Nam era SEALs and then having the privilege to serve with them.

In this USMC photo taken by LCpl Caleb McDonald, Marines with the Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response ground combat element transition from the standing to kneeling position during a live fire exercise aboard Moron Air Base, June 24, 2013. You can check out their kit which includes the M45A1 CQB Pistol produced by Colt.

This week will mark the 237th year since our Founding Fathers declared our Independence from mother England. The reason? Why, liberty, of course. So why not use it as a theme over the course of the week?

So I leave it to you. If we are going to discuss Liberty, let’s choose a few topics and take them on, one per day. What say you? Got any ideas?

Knowledge, experience and a good dose of intellectual curiosity are requirements for elevating performance on a consistent basis. Know what you do, why you do it, how it works, what the failure points or most likely mistakes are and refine the action…then begin looking for a better way or listen to someone else’s way. If it’s good, use it. If not there is still knowledge in it; at least you know one more thing not to try. Don’t have an emotional attachment to your answer, just the best answer.

It is my belief that adaptability is a byproduct of experience and applicable knowledge. My last unit in the Army was widely known as one of the most adaptable military organization that any military has created. It was that way culturally when I arrived in the late 90’s and for good reason. As a relatively young organization tasked with countering a peculiar threat (international terrorism) its members had to be flexible and adaptable to be effective. Inside that compound we questioned each other and everything we did at a level of detail that I had previously seen only on very rare occasions within special operations. That made it somewhat of an unofficial institutional quest to “find a better way”. Once refined…the quest began again immediately for an even better way making ruts and stagnation almost non-existent.

On the other hand I’ve witnessed countless instances of people that were either unwilling to change a technique or unwilling to even entertain a new one. Those people often had some good experience and knew a way that worked for them and had become comfortable with it over the years. Often times they wouldn’t even acknowledge there was validity to a competing technique. Those people were caught in the learning doldrums and those doldrums invariable stunted their performance. Being open to new things just like being closed to them is a learned trait.

Over the years I have found that the more people know the less rigid their responses are. I’m convinced the more applicable and adaptable knowledge you possess the more open you are to new techniques and the more capable you are of applying them in different variations for different reasons, with different implements under different conditions.

“Bring the mind into sharp focus and make it alert so that it can immediately intuit truth, which is everywhere. The mind must be emancipated from old habits, prejudices, restrictive thought processes and even ordinary thought itself.”

– Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do

Mike Pannone retired from the Army’s premier assault force (1st SFOD-D) after an explosive breaching injury. A year after his retirement America was attacked on 9/11 and he returned to help serve his country as the head marksmanship instructor at the Federal Air Marshals training course and then moved to help stand up the FAMS Seattle field office. In 2003 he left the FAMS to serve as a PSD detail member and then a detail leader for the State Department during 2003 and 2004 in Baghdad and Tikrit.

In 2005 he served as a ground combat advisor of the Joint Counter IED Task Force and participated on combat operations with various units in Al Anbar province. Upon returning he gave IED awareness briefings to departing units and helped stand up a pre-Iraq surge rifle course with the Asymmetric Warfare Group as a lead instructor. With that experience as well as a career of special operations service in Marine Reconnaissance, Army Special Forces and JSOC to draw from he moved to the private sector teaching planning, leadership, marksmanship and tactics as well as authoring and co-authoring several books such as The M4 Handbook, AK Handbook and Tactical Pistol shooting. Mike also consults for several major rifle and accessory manufacturers to help them field the best possible equipment to the warfighter, law enforcement officer and upstanding civilian end user. He is considered a subject matter expert on the AR based Stoner platform in all its derivatives.